The Fragile Mind: Nyx
by O' the Six Hundred
Summary: Nia, a Nyx warframe perfectly healthy and normal, suddenly gets lost in a world of confusion as her mental health rapidly declines. The downfall of a goddess is not so easy. Note: three parts.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Digital Extremes owns nearly everything.

"Are you sure she's telling you where to go?"

"Why would I question The Lotus, Hale?"

" . . . "

"That's what I thought." Nia was annoyed. Not only has Hale been pissing her off the whole time, Sebastian has run off somewhere completely ridiculous to contain his hold as "leader". _Control freak._

"I don't see why you don't just move on ahead," Grayson remarked. Grayson was an odd Tenno. No one ever seemed to pay attention to him, Nia did, of course, but even that was limited interaction. At least, compared to how often Lilith talked to him. Still, he had an uncanny ability to listen to Nia and not get yelled at by Sebastian, which should have given many pause, but no one seemed to care, like always.

"She's trying to follow orders, asshole," Lilith hissed bitterly. Lilith was a hotheaded one, not to mention she always was a kiss ass.

"I'm just saying, if she were to move along they wouldn't be complaining about anything."

"You really don't get how this whole 'Squad Under The Lotus' thing works, do you?"

"Enough!" came the sharp command of Nia. "You need to stop arguing!"

Hale turned around to stare at Nia, seemingly missing the other two standing in front of him. "Calm down. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough."

Lilith stood with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "You're just going to let that slide? What the hell?"

Nia shook her head and moved past Grayson. "We should move, Hale. Sebastian is probably forcing the link to his warframe. You know how he gets."

"Fine with me. I just want to get off this ship. Not enough Grineer to kill."

Nia trudged passed him, not bothering to retort, considering Hale's penchant of psychopathic behavior from time to time. As the group crept through the dark, dank halls of Grineer engineering, Nia noticed Lilith sidled up beside her. At first, she appeared unnaturally tempered; peculiar, considering someone of her disposition. "Something wrong, Lilith?"

Lilith broke from thought with a start. "No, nothing's wrong. Just a bit unnerved about this ship."

"Why's that?"

"Just . . . do, I guess."

That was enough to set Nia on edge. To unsettle any Tenno was one thing, but to unsettle Lilith was on a new level of disturbing. "Hale, are you getting any weird vibes from this place?"

"Besides the odd silence, stale air, and lack of enemies? No. Why?"

Nia looked back to Lilith with a concerned look under her helmet. Lilith seemed lost in thought again, which should not have disconcerted her as much as it did. Nia just shrugged in response to Hale's question, turning back to the dark hallway in front of her.

What Nia couldn't get out of her mind was the thought that something _is_ actually wrong with the ship. Sebastian would have mentioned something like that entering the place . . . wouldn't he? Plagued by one too many variables, she kept moving forward, confident that they were safe. Maybe.

Grayson suddenly spoke up. "Where did Hale go?"

"Were you not just behind him?" Nia responded.

"No. I was right behind you."

Nia, perturbed at his lie, canted her head in aggravation. "You lost track of him, didn't you?"

"Is it really necessary to keep an eye on fellow Tenno?"

Before Nia could retort, Lilith spoke up. "You know how Hale gets! He's practically psychotic when it comes to killing enemies; so much so it gets to the point of unhindered _boredom_. In other words: yes, you should be watching him!"

"Shut it, Lilith," came Nia's command. "Whether he's off somewhere else is as trivial as Sebastian wandering alone. It doesn't matter, he will more than likely show up at the reactor. Now, stop arguing."

Silence. Graceful and wonderful silence. Nia sighed in relief, and continued along the hallway. _How long was this damn place?_ she thought. She remembered the Corpus and Grineer walkways were both short, simple, celled-off sections. Not some convoluted, continuous, walk of . . . death.

The sniper shot punctuated the end of her thoughts. Instinctively, she rolled to the left, behind cover. "Ambush!" she yelled. Gunfire erupted from every direction as the trio found themselves pinned to the spot by thirty or so Grineer.

"When the hell did they start ambushing?" Lilith called over the boisterous rifles.

Grayson, looking shell-shocked, replies: "Who cares? Shoot the bastards!"

Nia looks around the corner, spotting more Grineer than the stint she did on Kiste, all rounded lines and bulky armor. Sebastian liked to make fun of their meager attempts at countering his defense. Hale enjoyed cutting and slicing wave after wave of them apart. Nia, channeling all her energy, released her mind onto the belligerent, animal-like Grineer.

_Shh_, she coos. _Listen to me, nobody else (including your own self), just me, _she pleaded. _You're no longer in need of control, just relax and let me in_, she whispers. A visible visage of green, digitized energy wrapped its figure around all the Grineer, caressing their cheeks and whispering into their ears. Suddenly, their eyes went black, and they flew into a rage of confusion as they fired the rifles at each other. The tactical side of Nia's mind grinned at her work, confident in her decision.

Rifles ripping holes in the cover, rifles ripping holes in the Grineer. Rifles ripped holes into Lilith. "Lilith! Hold on. I'm—" Nia was cut off by a grenade that made its presence known with a loud detonation. The lights are gone first. She hears Lilith screaming in pain. Grayson shouts something unintelligible, followed by a loud grunt. The sound goes next. Nia sits there, propped up against something, bleeding out. Blackness turns into a void. A void where there is no pain or . . . what? The feeling goes next, as she tumbles into a calm, yet, depressing sea. Thoughts are still there, somewhere in the ocean of her mind. Sleep. It's almost like a command. _Sleep_. A command she wants to obey. _Sleep._ No more thought, no more pain, no more problems. Sleep.

**A/N: this story is going to be broken up into three chapters. Chapters two and three are expected in the next couple of weeks.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: My apologies for the absolutely disgusting amount of time I have been away from this story. It needs to be finished, damn it! Sally forth, muse! And plunder the depths of plot! Also, this chapter may seem confusing near the middle, but it will make sense later.**

**Disclaimer:** Digital Extremes owns nearly everything.

Nia awoke sometime later. She was not surprised that she passed out, it was a grenade after all, but considering there are copious Grineer bodies around her, Lilith and Grayson have vanished, and Hale nor Sebastian has come searching for her, it was definitely unorthodox. _Chalk one up for the Grineer. If they're ambushing now we might actually have a problem._

Gathering her rifle and placing her blade on her back, she decided to chance a role call. "Lilith? Grayson? Are you here?" Nothing. _Now that's not good; where could they be?_ she thought. _Passed out? Did they run away after the blast?_ A pause. _Dead?_ Losing two Tenno on any mission was sure to receive the harshest of punishments from the Lotus—she is much colder than people perceive. With this possibility in mind, Nia peregrinated across the blackened, blood-soaked floor. The extent of the damage was queer, to say the least. Crates lie half-shredded against the wall, tiling uprooted and scorched, glass scattered among the debris, giving the carnage an almost delicate eloquence; furthermore, the dead bodies of Grineer and their machines burned beautiful vermillion, singing them beyond recognition. It almost seemed to approximate art, if Nia had a proclivity for such things, never mind the dissonance of her own life in the center of it all. Odd she should think of this slaughter as beautiful, for she never much cared for the revel of death. Or maybe she always had in some distant part in her mind—scattered among the multitudes of flotsam that paraded about her . . ."

Nia shook her head in bemusement. _The hell was I saying?_ She has had these "thought attacks" since they detected her mind-altering capabilities; hitherto, they merely caused a mild headache and nothing more, let alone inner ramblings of a mad woman. Nonetheless, she needed to find Lilith and Grayson. With renewed vigor she trotted onward, intent on locating her missing squadmates.

After what had been perceived as hours of travel, Nia found the ship's large, radiating reactor, spinning eternally in a containment field—if you could call those needle-like appendages such a thing. What struck her as odd about this place is how Hale, Lilith, Grayson, and Sebastian have not destroyed the aforementioned reactor. Shrugging, Nia raised her weapon and fired upon the green cylinders, which exploded with a resounding shatter as bullet met glass and the effulgent liquid spewed forth, spattering against the floor. Awe-inspiring, really, the nature of her work; to think this whole ship would power-down due to tiny bits of meticulously crafted metal, thumping against several cooling devices—incredible.

Alarms blared for a few moments after the power failed, unfortunately. Nia, expecting an endless wave of disfigured clones to pour through the sealed doors, prepared digitized bolts of psychic power to send forth. Silence. Ever vigilant, Nia paced forth, ready to send the psionic darts into the skull of any threat.

Empty corridors greeted Nia after she descended the ominous, quiet stairs. Suddenly, hearing whispers of an unknown language, she planted her right foot to the ground and spun around, sending the bolt flying into the . . . wall? Nia berated herself; in her stupid zeal, she mistook the noises for an enemy! Years of training sent away over some idiotic premonition. Disheartened by her failing, Nia hid away behind some dark crack in the rusty, metal interior. She chastised herself with a slew of malicious expletives. Why, oh why, had she failed? She heard Grayson's voice over and over until his words were numb and nothing all at once. Lilith followed suit, tirading about the Nia's lack of ability and competence. _Petulant child!_ she would exclaim._ Are we targeting walls now? I didn't get the message, apparently!_ Nia, under her breath, mutters, "shut up." Just as the voices came about, now they were gone, merely a whisper in the back of her mind. Crawling out of the crevice, Nia put a deliberate foot in front of another deliberate foot, slogging her way through the long dead halls. She occasionally heard a shady, black whisper among the branches of light shining through the miniscule windows of the space-faring craft. This tormenting ridicule of others has her pinned to the floor, and for what? Her throwing a damn bolt at a wall? Who even cares?

The irrational emotions continue, worming their way through her mind. Thoughts unravel and become discordant. Movement slowed to a stall.

A scraping noise. Scratching and scathing and pain. Thought to thought she fought. What has she wrought. Is she mad? Is she insane? It was just a wall! A wall! Her knees hit the menacing, cold, industrial floor. Bolt. Wall. Lilith. Grayson. HALE SEBASTIAN REACTOR GRINEER DEATH WHISPERS VOICES!

"Stop!" Nia screams. The voices grow louder. "Please. Just stop." The voices grow louder and tell her to do things. They sound like Lilith. They sound like Grayson. They are her.


End file.
